 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Chelle
Date: 2008-05-12 15:48
With it having such a small bore and being such a short length, shouldn't it be much higher pitched? And he just happened to get all the tone holes perfectly spaced so that every single note was the correct pitch?
Sorry, but I don't believe it one bit.
-Chelle
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2008-05-12 15:56
He's obviously had practice at this. And it wasn't a clarinet mouthpiece...it was a sax mouthpiece.
If the bore is a cylinder (which one would guess the way it was drilled) then (like a clarinet) the air will vibrate at four times it's length because it becomes a stopped cylindrical pipe. Hence the comparatively low pitch.
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2008-05-12 20:38
"If the bore is a cylinder (which one would guess the way it was drilled) then (like a clarinet) the air will vibrate at four times it's length because it becomes a stopped cylindrical pipe. Hence the comparatively low pitch."
Don't you mean twice it's length? Four times it's length will sound two 8ves lower.
If a stopped pipe were to sound two 8ves lower than an open pipe of the same length, then that would make for a very compact bass clarinet! And a Bb soprano clarinet would be slightly smaller than an Ab sopranino. With that in mind, an Eb clarinet will be impossible to hold and play unless you had really tiny hands - probably smaller than a garklein.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2008-05-12 21:14
AHA! ODD FUNDAMENTALS! (student can't grip instrument...they put lotion on right before the lesson. They're washing hands as we speak!)
Stopped cylindrical pipes emphasize odd fundamentals...so we don't sound TWO octaves below...just one.
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: blazian
Date: 2008-05-13 01:39
EEK! Citing Wiki! Exactly what my English teacher told me not to do!
I still believe you though lolz...
- Martin
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2008-05-13 02:11
...it was the most clear cut explanation that was available at that moment.
Otherwise I agree with you.
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: LesterV
Date: 2008-05-13 18:15
I think the simplest way to understand the acoustics of the fundamental is that, at resonance, a pressure peak must exist at the closed (reed) end of the pipe and a pressure null at the open (first open hole) end. This will first occur at the frequency where the pipe is 1/4 wavelength long. The second occurrence will be where the pipe is 3/4 wavelength long. Then 5/4, 7/4, etc.
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Author: NorbertTheParrot
Date: 2008-05-13 21:34
Chris P - if the above explanations are clear as mud to you, perhaps the following will help.
The speed of sound in air is about 1100 feet/s (or about 340 m/s). The pitch of middle C is about 261 Hz. From this we can work out that the wavelength of middle C is 1100/261, or a bit over 4 feet.
Middle C is, of course, the lowest note of a flute. But a flute is only about 2 feet long.
The reason is that the wavelength of a flute (or oboe, sax etc) fundamental is twice the length of the pipe. The wavelength of a clarinet fundamental is twice this, or four times the length of the pipe.
So the statement "the air will vibrate at four times it's length" is scientifically (albeit not grammatically) correct.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2008-05-15 11:33
"Sorry, but I don't believe it one bit." Nor can I. Another hoax for true believers.
I wonder who is playing what behind the curtain.
Bob Draznik
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2008-05-15 17:57
Oh right - WAVE length as opposed to TUBE length - I see.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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